November 7, 2024
Founding Father James Madison wrote, “If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Madison, influenced by the Greek ideal of enlightened reason, struggled with the perennial question: How to devise the best working government in a state with no angels, but individuals guided by selfish interests. Keeping in view human nature, the founders devised a system of rule of law.
The rule of law is reflected in the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary and principles like separation of powers or checks and balances.
Though the Founding Fathers were inspired by the Greek ideal, philosophers like Plato were not fond of democracy. They feared that the uneducated masses would not be able to effectively fulfill their democratic responsibilities, as they might be misled by manipulative political leaders.
The ideal that universal suffrage would ensure the evolution of an ideal civil government was countered by the argument that the suffrage would only be meaningful only when the individuals and their leaders were aware of the larger picture. To use the words of Rousseau, the difference between “particular will” (reflecting selfish interests) and “general will” (reflecting larger interests of society).
It is not that selfish interests and larger societal interests are antithetical to each other, but for an all-encompassing democracy the difference must be minimal and this is possible when enlightened reason, that emerges from a deep cultivation of philosophy and wisdom, reigns supreme.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French politician and thinker, toured America in 1831 and wrote the classic “Democracy in America.” He held that universal suffrage might not be a guarantor of effective democracy. In his view, it is by no means a guarantee that the popular choice would be the smartest choice.
Tocqueville was critical of the suffrage in America as he wrote, “’The will of the nation’ is one of those expressions which have been most profusely abused by the wily and the despotic of every age. To the eyes of some it has been represented by the venal suffrages of a few of the satellites of power; to others by the votes of a timid or an interested minority; and some have even discovered it in the silence of a people, on the supposition that the fact of submission established the right of command.”
Though he wrote these words before the Civil War, one could find relevance of his argument in our times. Though appreciative of American democracy in many regards, the French thinker remained critical of its functioning.
Pope Francis recently expressed a pessimistic view on the forthcoming presidential election. He argued there is no alternative to voting in a democratic system and that all citizens must vote. In Madisonian fashion, he made a case that voters must follow their conscience and choose the “lesser evil.”
Democracy so far is the best form of government in the modern world. It is certainly better — ethically as well as politically — than authoritarian or totalitarian forms of government.
You might say it is a work in progress, or to use the words of historian David McCullough, it is “a torch lit by the Founding Fathers.” The current generation of voters must carry that torch closer to the ideal governed by enlightened reason — an ideal so dearly held by the founders like Madison.
(Published in the Florida Times-Union on November 3, 2024)
